Stamkos also said, best-case scenario, he'd be back in the lineup for a few Lightning games before the Olympics, which start on Feb. 6, then play for Team Canada. That would put his rehab at a little less than 10 weeks.

It's also a little unnerving for two wholly separate reasons. One: As much of a workout animal as Stamkos may be (and he's already borderline legendary in that department), the human body can only take so much. Setbacks happen, and sometimes they happen after medical clearance. The league needs another 15-ish years of its purest goal-scorer.

Now, that possibility is mitigated a little by the fact that Tampa and Canada have the same general manager. It's tough to imagine Steve Yzerman jeopardizing the future of his franchise player under any circumstance.

Two: If Stamkos does come back and something resembling full strength, it'd be a major boon for Canada. And no right-thinking American wants that, right? So, best-case scenario—for American hockey fans, at least—is that Stamkos heads to Sochi completely healthy and extra rusty.